Storage battery stripper



June 1938- w. FJ'EPPENSTEINER STORAGE BATTERY STRIPPER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 12, 1935 fiWmWMP m m WHHi HI M w m W A mm June 7, 1938. w. F. EPPENSTEINER STORAGE BATTERY STRIPPER Filed July 12, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR mafia? & R

9241, wym/ 4 I ATTORNEYS- Patented June 7, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STQRAGE BATTERY STRIBPER William F. Eppensteiner, Rahway, N. J., assignor to The American Metal Company, Limited, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application July 12, 1935, Seria.l No. 31,032 I Claims. (01. 136-174) This invention relates to the salvaging of storoxide, into a supporting grid, in a well-known age batteries, and more particularly to the manner. Thus, when batteries of this type are method of and means for removing. the plate subjected to constant vibration, as in an autosections ofv such batteries from their casings. mobile, the spongy material tends to break away 5 It is well known that storage batteries of the from its supporting grid and to collect in the I type used in motor vehicles, railroad cars, and bottom of the casing l2 as a sludge M. In the the like, have a considerable salvage value after. salvaging of such batteries according to the presthey have lost their primary usefulness. Such ent invention, 1 pass a tool, or tools, through batteries generally'comprise a plurality of spongy the bottoms of the casings at one or more points,

metal, and metal oxide, plates which are joined the tool or tools engaging the group of plates at 10 together as a unit and sealed into a cheap intheir bottom edges and the plates transmitting sulating casing. The salvage value of batteries the force of the tools to the seal, thus breaking of this type lies principally in the plates, or in the latter. Once the; seal has been broken, the the sludge which collects in the base of the plate sections Il may be removed in any desired casings; the casing being substantially value-. manner. Preferably the movement of the tool ll less. In the salvaging process, therefore, it is is continued to force the plates from the casing, desirable to remove the valuable plates and sludge and this is best accomplished by arranging the from the valueless casings at. the least possible casings in an inverted position for the punching cost. In the past this has been done either by operation so that gravity assists in the removal breaking the casings, or. by removing the seal by of the plates. I have found it preferable to a hand. Both of these prior methods were costly, subject the batteries to the action of heatprior and further, a considerable portion of the valuto the punching operation, particularly if there'is able sludge was lost. Further, when the casany chance of their having been frozen, and ings are broken up they become difficult to hanthis heating operation is also desirable since it dle; and since the casing generally represents softens the seal and permits an easier displace- 25 a loss, any reduction which can be effected in ment of the latter. The empty casings, which the cost of handling it represents a substantial are not broken except at one or more points in monetary gain. the bottom thereof, are then subjected to a It is an object of the present invention to washing action for the purpose of recovering a remove-the plate sections of the battery withmaximum amount of the sludge. 30

out destroying the casing, thereafter to'wash An apparatus for-carrying out the above dethe casings to recover a maximum amount of scribed method, as shown in the drawings, comthe sludge, and then to dispose of the casings prises a tunnel-like chamber l5 which is heated at a minimum expenditure of time and effort. to a desired temperature by means of heating Other objects and various features of the inelements IS. The heating elements maybesteam 3i vention will be more apparent from the following coils, electrical resistance units, gas burners, or description when read in connection with the the like. A conveyor I1 traverses the heating appended drawings in whichchamber and moves. a line of batteries l0 there- Figure l is a fragmentary perspective view of through, whereby they may be heated to any dea storage battery; sired degree,-200 F., for'example,and their 40 Fig. 2 is an elevational view partly in section seals softened to the desired extent. Preferably, of an apparatus for carrying out the objects of the batteries are mounted upon the conveyor with the invention; their longitudinal center lines at right angles Fig. 3 is an elevational view partly in section to the direction of movement; and with their 5 on an enlarged scale of a portion of the appasealed sides downwards. When the seal has been ratus of Fig, 2; l softened to the desired extent the conveyor ll Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line deposits the battery upon a bed 18, which, for 4-4 of Fig. 2; and the purpose of conserving space, is preferably Fig. 5 is a plan viewof the apparatus of Fig. 2. disposed at right angles to the conveyor H. The

In general, a battery I!) (Fig. l) of the type bed maybe of any desired construction, but, 50 with which the present invention is concerned, for reasons which will later appear, it preferably comprises a plate section II which is sealed into comprises a pair of rails I9 which engage only a cheap insulating casing I2 by means of asthe longitudinal edge portions 20 of the battery phaltum or other material l3. The plates are casing I2, the plate section II being unsupported usually formed by pressing sponge lead, or lead except by the seal l3. Mounted above the bed 55' the punch comprises one or more bars 22 which are sharpened at their lower ends, and joined together at their upper ends by means of a bridge 23. The punch may be driven in any desired manner, but as here shown the driving means comprises a cylinder 24 which is supported by suitable channel beams 25. The cylinder is provided with a piston 26 and a piston rod 21, the latter being operably connected to the bridge 23 of the punch 2|. A working fluid, either compressed air, steam, liquid under pressure, or any other desired medium, is introduced into the top of the cylinderthrough a pipe 28, thus forcing the piston 26 downward and driving the sharpened ends of the punch 2| through the bottomof the casing l2, thus applying a force a to the plate section of the battery which is suflicient to break the seal l3. Once this seal is broken the heavy plate section II, being unsupported as was previously mentioned, escapes from the casing by gravity, and falls upon a chute 29 which deposits it upon a conveyor 30. The conveyor 30, which may be of any desired character, carries the plate sections away to be melted down and purified.

Upon the retraction of the piston 26,-which may be'accomplished by a spring (not shown) or by introducing the working fluid into the cylinder onthe underside of the piston as through pipe 28a, the punch 2| is withdrawn from the casing, leaving it substantially unbroken except for the points at which the punch is passed through the bottom thereof. In order to insure the removal of the casing from the bars of the punch, a stripping guide 3| is interposed between the punch and the batteries. This guide may comprise a stationary plate 32 having a plurality of holes 33 therein through which the bars 22 of the punch may pass. If the casing tends to. stick to the punch it will encounter the stripping guide and be held-thereby while the punch is withdrawn. When this operation is complete the empty casing is moved along the bed Hi, to be washed as will presently be described, and an unsalvaged battery is simultaneously moved under the punch. This may be accomplished in a single operation by means of. a pusher feed mechanism 34. The feed mechanism may be of any desired type, and, as here shown, it comprises a head 35 which is reciprocated by means of a piston 36 operating within a cylinder 31, any desired medium being utilized to accomplish a reciprocation of the piston.

The washing of.- an empty casing to recover the sludge may most readily be done by supporting it with its open top downward and directing a stream of water upward against its bottom. The force of the stream dislodges the sludge, which then escapes by gravity. Since the casings on the bed are upside down, this-washing step fits into the process very nicely. Thus, when the pusher 34 advances an unsalvaged battery under the punch, as above described, it likewise pushes an empty casing along the bed. Beneath the point at which the empty casing momentarily comes to rest I preferably provide a plurality of upwardly directed nozzles 38 which are supplied with water from a main 39. The resulting streams of water strike against the bottom of the casing and dislodge the sludge as above described. The mixture of sludge and water, of course, falls and is collected in a sump 40, from which it may be withdrawn and concentrated.

A hood may be positioned over the bed at this which may be occasioned by the washing proc-.

ess. When the washing step is completed the next succeeding operation of the pusher deposits it upon a conveyor l2, which conveyor carries it away to any desired place.

As is apparent from the foregoing, my invention provides a method and means for positively removing the plate sections of batteries from their casings in an extremelysimple manner and yet one which is highly effective. Further, the invention achieves a maximum recovery at a minimum expense. 1 Again, as is apparent, the apparatus of my invention lends itself very readily to a high speed automatic stripping of the batteries in which no manual steps are required.

Since certain changes may be made in the embodiment of the invention without in any way departing from its scope, it is intended that the foregoing descriptionand the drawings shall be construed in an illustrative rather than a limiting sense.

I claim: V

1. An apparatus for stripping storage batteries of the type having a plate sectionsealed within a casing comprising a battery supporting bed having a pair of parallel rails so spaced apart as to engage only the edge portions of the casing of a battery mounted thereon, a punch having a free end directed towards said bed, and means of a battery positioned thereon with its sealed side directed downwardly, and to leave a free area therebetween of such dimensions that the plate section of-a battery when separated from its casing may pass therethrough, by gravity, a vertically disposed punch having a free end which normally occupies a position above the space occupied by batteries supported on the bed,.

and means for reciprocating said punch whereby its free end-successively may pass through the casing, into the plate section of a battery supported on the bed to break the seal between the plate section and the battery casing and then be withdrawn to its normal position.

3. An apparatus for stripping storage batteries of the type having a plate section sealed within a suitable casing comprising a supporting bed having a pair spaced apart as to engage only the side edge portions of the casing of a battery positioned thereon, and being of such length as to be capable of accommodating a plurality of such batteries, a vertically reciprocable punch located between the ends of the bed with its free end normally disposed above .the space occupied by' of horizontally disposed rails so thereon, a pusher mounted axially of the bed I 2,119, 858 adjacent the conveyor with its head norrnally retracted to such position as to permit the movement of batteries onto the bed, and means for reciprocating the pusher so as successively to advance batteries along the bed and beneath the punch.

4. An apparatus substantially-in accordance with claim 2, further characterized by the provision of a stripper elementlocated between the position normally occupied by the free end of the punch, and the space above the bed normally occupied by batteries supported thereon,- and said 4 element being adapted to engage a battery casing and strip it from the punch when the latter is receding from the bed;

5. An apparatus for stripping storage batteries according to claim 3 further characterized by the provision of a heater located under the conveyor for heating the batteries thereon and thereby softening the seals thereof. 

